A god among Cats, an Elder Scrolls Story
by Canadian Dalek
Summary: A party gone wrong leads to war. It's a... long story, so bear with me


Snow fell silently, covering the north side of the mountains in a blanket over a foot thick. The night was quiet, nothing stirring; even the trees witheld their secrets.

This peaceful scene was broken rather violently, with an orange flash and a loud BOOM, followed by the somewhat quieter cracking and creaking of a mountain pine falling over. From afar, it appeared as though a very one-sided battle was taking place: a wall of flames leapt up, licking hungrily at the surrounding trees, and a massive fireball went rolling down the mountainside a moment later, melting, crashing, and burning a path for its caster through the snow and trees, before exploding near the water's edge, about a kilometer away.

Elenwen turned back to survey her work. All chance at stealth had been lost, but whoever, or whatever meant to pursue her would have a very tough time navigating around the wall of magical fire now feeding off the surrounding forest. She smiled, but her laughter died in her throat as she witnessed a figure making its way through the flames, seemingly untouched by their fury. She stood there, rooted to the spot in silent fear, watching this... this thing walking through a spell that nothing living, not even a dunmer, should survive; She probably would've stood there until her own fire consumed her, were it not for a tree falling inches from her face, knocking the elf back to her senses and stumbling into a headlong sprint down the black mountain side.

Elenwen's pursuer never stopped walking, but every time she looked back, it had somehow closed a little more distance.

She made it to the coast. the forest had gone silent now: somehow, snow had started to come down so thick, it put out the fires she'd set. She leaned against a nearby tree, trying desperately to catch her breath, and looked back; her opponent was now visible as twin points of fire in the darkness, still coming ever closer. Elenwen tossed a fireball, hoping to slow it down, and give her a respite she sorely needed. It arced gracefully towards her target, soaring through the trees, dropping towards that glowing pair of eyes, illuminating their owner for a fleeting moment, and then... vanishing into the gloom. No explosion, no screams of agony, just those twin flames in the darkness, a cruel pair of eyes burning with malice and hatred for the sole creature occupying their vision.

Elenwen was in the process of preparing another, larger fireball, when she heard the unmistakable crack of a crossbow being fired, followed by a hissing, then a wet thud as the bolt took her through the right shoulder. This rendered her arm limp and unable to cast anything. She looked to her right. Off in the distance, the she-elf could make out the silhouette of Northwatch keep. She looked back at her pursuer. The eyes, which hadn't moved since the crossbow shot, looked off towards the fort, then back to her. They started approaching, much faster this time; evidently her opponent did not want her reaching those walls. Elenwen took off sprinting along the beach, trying to get to safety. There was next to no snow cover on the shore, allowing both hunter and prey to run unhindered.

The First Ambassador wheezed a sigh of relief as the battlements finally came into view. She casted a magelight, waved her arms and yelled out, "OPEN THE GATE! OPEN THE GATE YOU DOLTS, I NEED HELP!" She was about 30 feet from the gate in question when another bolt lodged itself in her calf, causing her to land flat on her face. Elenwen turned over onto her back to find the hunter a foot from her face. Instictively, she raised her left hand, and sent a burst of flames into its face, setting it aflame, and causing it to recoil, covering up with its hands and grunting in pain. The fire went out unnaturally fast, and the creature seemed ready to pounce again, until three arrows buried themselves in the sand at its feet, giving it pause. It was now that the front gate opened, and six altmer marched out to assist their commander. The creature hissed, uttered a word she couldn't quite make out, and seemed to vanish into the snowstorm as another hail of arrows pummeled the ground where it had been standing but a moment before.

Elenwen was helped up by two soldiers, while the other four stood guard. It was not until the gates came to with a bang, and the sound of magelights being shot into the sky subsided, that she allowed herself to be half-helped, half-carried into the keep, where she fell onto the first bed she saw and loudly demanded a medic and a bottle of Alto wine.

Outside, the pair of burning eyes reappeared near the forest's edge. The hunter watched the fort keenly, waiting for the time to strike.

**A/N**

**First chapter finished. I have no idea how long this story will be, only ideas about certain events that will take place later on. I do hope that you've guessed who this "Mysterious hunter" is, but if you haven't, congratulations! You get to be suprised by what happens next!**

**Anyway, context for Chapter one will be available in chapter 2. Bye for now!**


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